Automatic garage door



Dec. 18, 1934. c. c. BROWN AUTOMATIC GARAGE DOOR 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet lFiled Jan. 22,

Syvum/l to@ Char/es C /own Dec. 18, 1934. c. c. BROWN AUTOMATIC GARAGEDOOR Filed Jan. 22, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Slm/munter, Char/@s C /"ownf'III nl UNITED STATES Patented Dec. 1'8, 1934 PATENT OFFICE AUTOMATICGARAGE Doon `Charles C. Brown, Spokane, Wash. Application'January 22,1934, seal N6.r 707,683 :sy claims. V(o1. 268-35) 4 My inventionrelatesto automatic garage doors and certain objects of the invention are toprovide means whereby the weight of a motor or other vehicle isutilized'. to open and close the garage doors'. l Further objects are toprovide meansl whereby theweight of a vehicle causes the doors Ytoautomatically unlock and'lock themselves when the vehicle is enteringand leaving a garage. VStill .further objects are -to .provide meanswhereby the doors ycannot be opened by weight of another vehicle on theoutside of .the garage doorswhen a vehicle is locked within the garage.Y

Withthe above and otherV objects in view which will appear as .thedescription proceeds, the invention consists of the novel construction,adaptation, combination and arrangementof Yparts hereinafterV describedand claimed. These objects are accomplished by devices illustrated inthe accompanying drawings; wherein: Figure 1 is a plan View showing the.device extending into a garage that is shown in horizontal section;Fig. 2 is a view in longitudinal vertical section of the device andgarage; Fig. 3 is a viewin front elevation of .a garage and showing intransverse vertical section the meansv for operating the. garage doors;Fig. 4 is a detail view in transverse vertical sectonshowing a channeledguide member secured to the upper channeled operating member; Fig. y5 isan enlarged view in transverse vertical section looking from the insideand showing the door operating mechanism and showing its door openingposition in dotted lines; Fig. 6 is a detail view in horizontal sectiontaken substantially on a broken line 6-6 of Fig. 5 and showing in bottomplan the door swinging lever arrangement; Fig. '7 is a detail View inVertical section showing .the guide means for the upper edge portion ofthe doors; Fig. 8 is a detail view in vertical section showing thelocking bolt and guide arrangement for the bottom edge of the doors; andFig. 9 is a. detail View in perspective showing'an end of the dooroperating mechanism.

Referring to the drawings throughout which like reference numeralsindicate like parts, the numeral 5 designates a garage having doubledoors each consisting of an outer section 6 that is connected by outsidehinges '7 to an inner section Sewhich is connected to the garage byinside hinges 9. It is thus seen that the doors are adapted to fold inthe middle and swing into the garage as indicated in dotted lines inFigs. 1, 2

` and 6 of the drawings. rThe numeral 10 designates aconcretc drivewayleading into the garage and having longitudinal grooves or channels l1spaced apart the normal distance between the 'i wheels of a motorvehicle and extending into the garage. .A transverse groove or. channel12gextends across the driveway beneaththe doors and belowthelongitudinal grooves, .and within said transverse groove the main *dooryoperating mechanism is installed which mechanism will now be described.y

A channeled beam 13 is secured in the bottom ofthe transverse groove 12with its flanges exvis parallel with'fthelowerbeam and is retained Iinparallel relation therewith by `means of the bolts 14 ,passing`slidablyand'loosely through holes therein. .Said upper beam is held downagainst the arms of the leaf spring by nuts .on the bolts whichnormallyretain said beam substantially ush with .the top of the transversegroove 12. A long tread plank 17 isplaced in each of the longitudinalgrooves .11 .ofthe driveway 10 and rest on top of the upper cross beams16. Said planks are norm'ally'fiush with the surface o1' said drivewayand extend from the outer ends of the longitudinal grooves 11 toa pointa short distance inside ofthe garage 5 where they are connected byhinges 18 to short tread planks 19 which extend the'restof the length ofthe longitudinalfgroove's 11. A small space is left all aroundy theedges of said planks for freedom of their movement and small metalplates 20 may be used tovbrdge this space at the outer ends of the. longtread planks. The outer ends of said.v long planks are supportedby atransverse pipe 2l set in the. concrete with a channel iron bearingsecured to the planks and resting* on the pipe. The. short tread planks19 are centrally supported by a corresponding cross pipe 22. y

When a motor vehicle.v drives onto the tread planks 17 on they outsideof the-garage its weight depresses said planks and also the short planks19 to a position shown in dotted-lines in Fig. 2. As shown in dottedlines in Fig. 5, the upper cross beam 16 and the leaf spring 15 arecorrespondingly depressed.u This movement ofthe upper cross beam isutilized in opening and closing thegarage doors by'means which will nowbe described. As most clearly shown in Fig. 9 of the drawings, a pair ofupstanding arms 23 is secured to each end portion of the lower fixedcross beam 13 and a depending arm 24 is fixed to each end portion of theupper movable cross beam 16 a short distance inside of said upstandingarms. An L-shaped lever 25 is pivoted between the upstanding arms 23 atthe joinder of its major and minor arms and at each end of said crossbeams. The minor arm of said lever extends loosely through a slot 26 inthe depending arm 24 and its major arm extends upwardly and slidablythrough a slot 27 in the upper cross beam 16. To the upper end of eachof said L-levers a connecting rod 28 is pivotally and adjustablyconnected at 29. Said connecting rod, on each side, slants inwardly, asshown in Fig. 6, to a pivotal connection at 30 with a shoe arm 31 whichis fixed to the lower and outer corner of the section 8 of the garagedoors. From the foregoing it will be obvious that, when the cross beam16 is depressed, the depending arms 24 will cause the I -levers 25 toswing inwardly whereby the pull of the connecting rods 28 on the shoearms 31 will cause the garage doors to swing inwardly.

For the purpose of guiding the doors in their swinging movement, I havefixed a channel guide member 32 across each of the long tread planks 17.Said guide members are imbedded in said tread planks directly above thecross beam 16 in parallel relation therewith and their outer ends arecurved downwardly at 33 for reasons that will presently be apparent. Tothe inside of the outer bottom corners of the abutting garage doorsections 6 I have xed small brackets 34 wherein spring depressed bolts35 are installed as most clearly shown in Fig. 3. In the closed positionof said doors said bolts project downwardly through holes 36 in thechannel guide members 32. Upon depression of the tread planks 17 saidchannel guide members will move down to the dotted position free of thebolts 35 and in this position said members serve as guides for saidbolts when the doors are swung inwardly or outwardly in retaining theouter edges of the door sections 6 in the plane of the door opening. Asshown in Fig. 9, the slots 26 in the depending arms 24 are long enoughso that their upper ends do not engage the minor arms of the L-levers 25until the guide members 32 have fallen free of the bolts 35 thus freeingsaid bolts from the holes 36 in said guide members before the doorsbegin to swing as will be understood. The outer ends of the channelguide members are curved down at 33 for the reason that the bolts 35 arecarried out of said guide members in the open position of the doors. Assaid guide members begin to rise when the doors rst start to close, saidcurved ends pick up said bolts and their springs are graduallycompressed and continue so until said bolts again reach the holes 36 inthe closed position of the doors atwhich time said springs cause thebolts to snap down into said holes thus locking the doors.

As a further means for guiding the garage doors in their swingingmovements I have xed small brackets 37 to the inside of the outer uppercorners of the abutting door sections 6, shown in detail inFig. 7. Ineach of said brackets a stub shaft 33 is revolubly mounted and its upperend, which projects above the garage doors on the inside, is providedwith a roller head 39. Said roller head moves in a channel guide track40 which is secured to the garage frame immediately above and extendsthe full width of the doors.

When the doors are opened and closed this guide arrangement, in additionto the foregoing described guide means, retains the outer edges of thedoors in the plane of the door opening in their swinging movement.

It will now be apparent that I have provided garage doors that areentirely automatic in their movements. A vehicle may drive slowly intothe garage causing the locked doors to unlock and swing open as thevehicle passes through and then causing the doors to close and lockthemselves when the vehicle passes inside of the garage. It will beunderstood that the leaf spring 15 lifts the cross beam 16 when avehicle has passed oi of the tread planks 17 and causes a reverse actionof the foregoing described mechanism which closes the doors. The rearwheels of the vehicle are brought to rest on the inner ends of the shorttread planks 19 whereby the weight of the vehicle prevents the doorsfrom being opened by the weight ofanother vehicle which might be drivenonto the tread planks 17 on the outside of the garage. The vehicleinside may, of course, be backed out and in so doing the doors willagain swing open upon the rear wheels of the vehicle passing outwardlyto a point beyond the cross pipe 22 which pivotally supports the shorttread planks 19 and the doors will again swing to the closed and lockedposition by agency of the spring 15 when said vehicle is clear of thetread planks 17. The device is particularly adapted for use on garagesthat are connected to a dwelling and have a door communicatingtherewith, although it may be used equally as well on disconnectedgarages by providing a small door or other means of access by the driverof a vehicle.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is:-

l. The combination with a garage having swinging doors and a drivewayhaving longitudinal grooves extending into the garage, and having atransverse groove extending beneath said doors, of automatic means foropening and closing said doors. said means comprising long tread planksinstalled in the longitudinal grooves and extending into the garage,means for supporting the outer ends of said planks, a cross beam mountedfor up and down movement within the transverse groove and supporting thetread planks, a leaf spring with its arms normally retaining said crossbeam and planks in the raised position, pivotally mounted leversarranged to swing inwardly upon depression of the cross beam, rodsconnecting said levers with the doors whereby depression of the treadplanks, spring and cross beam causes the doors to swing open and wherebythe doors are caused to swing to the closed position when thecross beamand tread planks are raised by the spring, short tread planks disposedwithin the longitudinal grooves and hinged to the inner ends of the longtread. planks within the garage, and a transverse central support forsaid short planks whereby a weight upon their inner ends prevents saidshort and long tread planks from being depressed by a weight on the longtread planks outside of the garage.

2. The combination with a garage having a pair of swinging doors eachcomprising an inner and an outer section hinged together and a drivewayhaving longitudinal grooves extending into the garage and a transversegroove extending beneath said doors, of automatic means for opening,closing, unlocking and locking said doors, said means comprising longtread planks installed in the longitudinal grooves and extending intothe garage,

means for supporting the outer ends of said long planks, short treadplanks hinged to the long planks and extending to the ends of thelongitudinal grooves within the garage, a transverse central support forsaid short planks, a cross beam fixed in the bottom or the transversegroove, an upper cross beam disposed in parallel relation with the xedbeam and having a slot in each of its end portions, standards fixed tothe lower beam and extending slidably through the upper beam, springmeans for normally retaining the upper beam and tread planks in theraised position, an L-lever pivotally connected to the lower beam ateach of its end portions, a depending arm xed to the upper beam at eachend and disposed on the inside of the L-lever, each of said L-levershaving a short arm extending through a slot in the depending arms and along arm extending through the slots in the upper cross beam, a rodpivotally connecting each of said long lever arms with the outersections of the garage doors whereby depression of the tread planks,spring and upper cross beam causes the doors to swing to the openposition and whereby the reaction of the spring causes the doors toswing to the closed position, guide channel members fixed to the longtread planks in parallel with the cross beams, a spring depressed boltconnected to the lower outer corners of the outer door sections andnormally extending down through holes in the guide channel memberswhereby the doors are held in the closed and locked position, said boltsarranged to slidably ride in said guide members when they are lowered toa position where their holes are free of the bolts upon the doors beingswung inwardly and outwardly to the open and closed positions, andwhereby the outer edges of the outer door sections are retained in aplane with the door opening upon the swinging movements of the doors,and said bolts adapted to snap back into the holes in the channel guidemembers to lock the doors when they are swung to the closed 2O position.

CHARLES C. BROWN.

